Chat is Google's next attempt at messaging on Android

[THeEmpire.01]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/19/17252486/google-android-messages-chat-rcs-anil-sabharwal-imessage-texting

 

 

Chat is Google's next attempt at messaging on Android

 

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Instead of bringing a better app to the table, it’s trying to change the rules of the texting game, on a global scale. Google has been quietly corralling every major cellphone carrier on the planet into adopting technology to replace SMS. It’s going to be called “Chat,” and it’s based on a standard called the “Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services.” SMS is the default that everybody has to fall back to, and so Google’s goal is to make that default texting experience on an Android phone as good as other modern messaging apps.

As part of that effort, Google says it’s “pausing” work on its most recent entry into the messaging space, Allo. It’s the sort of “pause” that involves transferring almost the entire team off the project and putting all its resources into another app, Android Messages.

Google won’t build the iMessage clone that Android fans have clamored for, but it seems to have cajoled the carriers into doing it for them. In order to have some kind of victory in messaging, Google first had to admit defeat.

 

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Chat is not a new texting app. Instead, think of it more like a new set of features inside the app already installed on most Android phones. “Chat” is the consumer-friendly name for Rich Communication Services (RCS), the new standard that’s meant to supplant SMS, and it will automatically be turned on inside Android Messages, the OS’s default app for texting. 

When people begin using Chat, they’ll get many features that are standard in any other texting app, including read receipts, typing indicators, full-resolution images and video, and group texts. 

But remember, Chat is a carrier-based service, not a Google service. It’s just “Chat,” not “Google Chat.” In a sign of its strategic importance to Google, the company has spearheaded development on the new standard, so that every carrier’s Chat services will be interoperable. But, like SMS, Chat won’t be end-to-end encrypted, and it will follow the same legal intercept standards. In other words: it won’t be as secure as iMessage or Signal.

 

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Instead of continuing to push Allo — or creating yet another new chat app — Google is instead going to introduce new features into the default Android Messages app, like GIF search and Google Assistant. Android Messages will be the default on many (but not all) Android phones. Samsung phones will also support Chat using Samsung’s app. You will still be able to download Google’s app if you’d prefer to use it, though it seems unlikely that third-party developers will be able to create full RCS-enabled apps.

First of let me just say that I am really excited at the possibility that this could actually work. Getting messaging right on Android has been HARD for Google but if what there talking about can happen it would be awesome. The ability to use the multiple devices for the same messages as well as being able to see read receipts and more in the built in app is huge. But were going to have to wait and see if Google can actually deliver this time. As you may know Googles messaging history is pretty shaky. I like the idea of an industry standard protocol that can replace SMS and offer features that just aren’t possible with the current SMS system. Remember guys that this isn't actually another app that Google is making, this is a new "feature" to the standard messaging app on Android. Also in the topic of encryption, Google's decision to use RCS in a non-encrypted way is quite scary (not sure if RCS can even be encrypted since its pretty similar to SMS) and not exactly a positive for Google. Especially when Apple's iMessage does have a form of end to end encryption.

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A brief and very incomplete history of Android’s Messaging Mess

• August 2005: Google Talk (aka Google Chat)
• October 2008: Android launches with support for Google Talk & SMS
• June 2011: Google+ launches, distracting everybody. It includes Huddleand Hangouts Video Chat
• August 2011: Facebook Messenger launches as a standalone app
• October 2011: iMessage launches. WhatsApp reports 1 billion messages per day
• May 2013: Google+ Hangouts launches, merging other Google messaging and video chat apps
• September 2014: Google Voiceintegrated into Hangouts
• April 2015: Project Fi launches, also integrating with Hangouts
• January 2016: Google Messengerbecomes the preferred SMS app on Android, deprecating Hangouts for texting.
• May 2016: Google launches Allo, a texting app, and Duo, a video chat app
• June 2016: Google Talk for Android and Google Chat in Gmail discontinued
• February 2017: Messenger is renamed Android Messages, announced it will be the default RCS app
• March 2017: Google announces Hangouts is becoming Hangouts Chat, focused on enterprise use
• April 2018: Google is “pausing investment” in Allo, focusing instead on Chat, a new standard to replace SMS

What do you guys think?

[themctipers]

waiting for this to become a disappointment like allo, and having 0 more carriers supporting this..

[dizmo]

I don't like people seeing that I've read the message, so hopefully that's a feature I can turn off.

Otherwise I'll just stick to Textra. Which I'll probably enjoy more thanks to it's customization anyway.

[2FA]

No thanks, I'll stick with Signal.

[ARikozuM]

Why does it seem that Google's products always have sh#t names? There's only one worse option, "Board Meeting", and it still sounds less boring than "Chat". 

[BuckGup]

Make it blue like imessage. Something it will never be

[DrAwesome821]

Will probably continue sticking with Hangouts and WhatsApp supplementing SMS. No thanks Google, I don't need another app.

[79wjd]

Messages and its seamless integration across iOS/Mac OS is one of the things that I would never be able to give up, so it would be really nice if there was a good alternative on Android....sadly, I don't have much hope that this will be it.

[Drak3]

14 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Why does it seem that Google's products always have sh#t names?

They put as much time and effort in the names as they do the products.

[TheKDub]

9 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I don't like people seeing that I've read the message, so hopefully that's a feature I can turn off.

Otherwise I'll just stick to Textra. Which I'll probably enjoy more thanks to it's customization anyway.

I'm gonna stay on the Textra train too. If Google were to make something that actually competes with iMessage and is rolled out to replace the current Messages app or whatever the hell stock android has, then I might consider switching.

(Free messaging between Android devices, able to be used with your desktop [maybe even have a MacOS application for it to fuck with Apple], laptop, etc... end to end encryption, and other stuff of the sort.)

[iamdarkyoshi]

Looks a lot like telegram. So I might as well continue using telegram, I need my dank stickerpacks

[Sniperfox47]

I don't get where people are under the impression that they're transfering people off the Allo team to work on Messages... Hasn't the same team been developing Allo and Messages from the start? I mean it's not as if RCS support in Messages is even new, they've been slowly rolling out more and more and more of it for what... a year and a half now?

[Ryujin2003]

Just bring back ICQ...

 

 

BUT SERIOUSLY, why bring a feature that doesn't bring the same security features as the competition

[Sniperfox47]

51 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Just bring back ICQ...

 

 

BUT SERIOUSLY, why bring a feature that doesn't bring the same security features as the competition

Security features like what? The totally broken "end-to-end encryption" standards purported by Telegram and WhatsApp?

 

RCS is to-server encrypted the same as Allo, Skype, Discord and most other decent messenger apps. It's not sent plaintext like SMS is.

[Arika]

so instead of your phone provider being able to read your messages, Google AND your provider will be able to read your messages

[Drak3]

Just now, Sierra Fox said:

so instead of your phone provider and Facebook being able to read your messages, Google, Facebook, AND your provider will be able to read your messages

Corrections in red.

 

And that's assuming that stock Android doesn't allow Google to do that already.

[captain_to_fire]

But this begs the question, will messages now be in sync with Google Drive just like how Apple’s iPhone syncs regular SMS and iMessages to iCloud? 

[Canada EH]

This does not sound good. They will just sell your chatting strings.

[DrMacintosh]

Google, just stop. 

[MrDynamicMan]

4 hours ago, TheKDub said:

I'm gonna stay on the Textra train too. If Google were to make something that actually competes with iMessage and is rolled out to replace the current Messages app or whatever the hell stock android has, then I might consider switching.

(Free messaging between Android devices, able to be used with your desktop [maybe even have a MacOS application for it to fuck with Apple], laptop, etc... end to end encryption, and other stuff of the sort.)

whatsapp does most of those things.

[Trixanity]

Sounds like a rebrand of RCS rather than a new app or platform. RCS is already implemented in Android Messages. 

 

And it's not like they can't solve messaging; they simply refuse to do it.

They're basically doing the same mistake they did with Android updates. They relinquish power to third parties. They're giving carriers some tools and telling them they can implement it on their network. Except most carriers don't care about Google's predicament and therefore aren't in a hurry to do this.

 

If Google were committed they could essentially force (along with Apple) carriers to become simply an internet provider. Nothing more. Sure, they'd still need to upgrade their towers to improve service and to adopt new cellular standards to keep up but you'd eliminate any and all carrier crap.

 

But I digress. Google's hilarious attempts at trying to get around doing an iMessage/WhatsApp competitor has become a meme at this point and there is no way they aren't aware of it. I wonder what the people working on these things are thinking; what's it like being laughed at for your work and what's it like to work on products no one wants to use? 

I know people have tweeted at the guy in charge of Allo/Duo but he shrugged off any comments about actually fixing messaging. And if I recall it was more than a dismissal; there was even some level of arrogance and snobby attitude involved.

[suicidalfranco]

Should have just focused on working on hangouts and expand it instead of releasing a new app with the same frequency as your average Chinese game studio trying to stay relevant in the mobile app market after it has discovered RPG maker

[LAwLz]

I have no idea why people are reacting the way they are doing.

The way I look at it, this is just Google pushing to get SMS replaced. SMS as a standard is pretty shit and need to be replaced. I don't see this competing with messaging apps like WhatsApp or iMessage.

And while WhatsApp and iMessage has already replaced SMS for a lot of people, SMS is still pretty widely used.

 

It seems like they have a lot of carriers onboard as well so adoption should hopefully be fairly quick.

[Sniperfox47]

27 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

It seems like they have a lot of carriers onboard as well so adoption should hopefully be fairly quick.

The Jibe team had previously (end of last year) said that they planned to be launching with every major carrier in Canada and the US (other than Telus) by Q1 or Q2 of this year.

 

Not sure what the plan is for Europe but a large number of European telecoms have signed onto the Jibe program as partners.

[Guest The Viking]

Remember hangouts and how hard they pushed that crap? Trying to literally force you to have the SMS through Hangouts with constant notifications and having to push no all the time? 

 

yeah, me neither.

 

No thanks, I'll stick to Whatsapp & Facebook Messenger, don't need extra crap on my phone. Another failed google product.